Insane Wyoming Post-Eclipse Traffic: Eight Hours From Orin to Laramie

Traffic on Wyoming highways ballooned over the past 72 hours, with traffic counts on Sunday alone showing an increase of 217,000 vehicles as people flooded into the state to see the total solar eclipse.

And, apparently, they all tried to head home at the same time after Monday's main event.

Michelle Mason, a fifth-year astronomy graduate student in Laramie, says it took her eight hours to get from Orin to Laramie via I-25 south and WY 34 through Sybille Canyon -- a trip that usually takes two hours or less.

"There were thousands of cars, most from Colorado judging by the license plates," Mason says. "We passed by at least six accidents which brought traffic to a crawl or altogether stop."

"It was worse than Los Angeles traffic, which I thought was impossible," Mason adds.

Mason was likely not far from the mark -- much of the traffic holding her up was headed over the Colorado border. CDOT officials estimated some 34,000 vehicles made the trip north for the eclipse.